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Internet sales and marketing professionals who are currently working at car dealerships and want to master powerful SEO tools and strategies to improve the search visibility of their website are invited to participate in a unique Automotive SEO Study which will be presented at the 2011 NADA Convention in San Francisco. 

The study is co-sponsored by PCG Digital Marketing and DrivingSales.com.

The Automotive SEO Study will be limited to 100 automotive dealers*. Registration ends on August 30, 2010.

There is no cost to participate however members should budget approximately $100 for domain purchases, blog hosting and/or fees paid to third part marketing sites, directories and related sites as needed.

Study members will be trained and coached how to use content publishing, link building, social media, video, PDF brochures, and automotive networks to improve their Google Page One results for popular consumer search phrases.   Members in the study will be required to dedicate 3-4 hours a week to complete the tasks required to deliver measurable results for their dealership.

The 100 dealers will have access winning digital marketing strategies, training videos, marketing outlines, tutorials, and websites managed by PCG Digital Marketing and DrivingSales that will enhance the results of their work. In return, members in the study will share the results of their work and be included in a whitepaper being prepared by PCG Digital Marketing and DrivingSales.com.

“The Automotive SEO Study will be the first of its kind”, according to Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing.   “The partnership with DrivingSales.com, the leading automotive social media community, is consistent with founder Jared Hamilton’s goal to provide digital marketing curriculums and best practices to assist automotive retailers with online advertising and communications.”

Length Of Automotive SEO Study

The study will run from September 1, 2010 to January 1, 2011. In those four months, members in the study will document their work and record data on a number of search marketing factors which will include website link counts, Google ranking for specific keywords, unique visitor traffic, lead submissions, and changes in their Google Page One Management (GPOM) results.

The results will be published and presented at the 2011 NADA Convention in San Francisco. Monthly updates during the four month study, as well as the final results, will be shared with members of www.DrivingSales.com .

Car dealers interested in the results of this study should create a free account on Drivingsales.com and follow the progress of their peers through the interactive blogs and dealership forums.

Automotive SEO Study Requirements

 The requirements to participate in the study are:

1. Participants must be an employee of a car dealership, proof will be required.
2. Participants must have written permission to write about the dealership online; blogs, press releases, social media, etc.
3. Participants must have an email address from an active dealership domain.
4. Members in the study will be required to dedicate 4 hours a week to complete the tasks required for success.
5. Participants must be willing to share the results of their work via Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics data and allow the data to be summarized* in the final study whitepaper.

No confidential data or specific dealership website results will be published in the whitepaper or made public without written permission from participant.

Register For Study

Dealers interested in participating should register online at www.automotiveseostudy.com.  Inquiries can be sent to:  info@automotiveseostudy.com.  

* PCG Digital Marketing retains the right to decline dealer participation in the Automotive SEO Study based on conflicts of interest with current clients.

A recent post on an automotive social networking forum brought up the question about back links to their dealer website.  Having high quality automotive website linking to your dealership website is an important part of an Automotive SEO strategy.  However, getting links from other automotive websites is not an easy task.

Before I make some suggestions on how to build links, it is important to stay away from offers that sound too good to be true.  Every week I get email solicitations from companies from India, Russia and the UK offering one-way links for a low fee.  Most of these services create links from websites that will add no real value to your Automotive SEO strategy.

Automotive User Groups

In the automotive space, consider becoming a sponsor of popular automotive user group forums for your specific brand.  Many offer links building opportunities and banner advertising at a very reasonable cost.  For example, if you are a Nissan dealership you may consider becoming a supporting member of www.nicoclub.com  or www.nissanforums.com.

There are dedicated user groups and forums for every brand of cars.  These sites have high keyword density and relevance for the dealer brand they represent.  Articles posted on these sites, posting your cars for sale, or just advice to forum members can produce high quality links back to your website.

A word of advice; become a supporter and clearly identify yourself as a vendor. Also, take it slowly and build up your reputation and trust in the forum or you will be thrown out on your ass.

Outside of well ranked automotive user groups websites, look for automotive blogs that offer advertising space; many exist.  An alternative is to look for automotive blogs or communities that will allow you to post articles in a field of your expertise for free.  This is perfect for automotive professionals that like to write and share ideas.

If you don’t have the time or the motivation to write, considering hiring a firm to write articles on automotive topics and post these articles on “ezine” websites like http://ezinearticles.com or article directory websites like http://www.articledashboard.com .

The articles you write must be informative and not sales pitches. When done properly they can create powerful links and attract organic search traffic.  For example, writing an article on the benefits of purchasing a Toyota ExtraCare warranty over a third party warranty would be a good article to gain link relevance on extended warranty keywords. You can link to charts or warranty information on your website  and pickup a good back link.

Local Business Directories

Outside of these two strategies, look for ways to also establish local relevance for OEM car sales in your state.  These opportunities are normally found on reputable statewide business directory websites. Make sure that the website has a Google PageRank of 3 or higher. Banner ads or sidebar articles can often generate hundreds of links to your website from one advertising sponsorship.   The optimal advertisement will include some text that you can hyperlink with a strong anchor tag. An example is: http://www.newjerseyvisitorsnetwork.com

Press releases are another great way to build quality links and there are about a dozen great websites that you can utilize for PR and back links.  The key is to use press release websites that allow hyperlinked text in the body of the press release.  This allows for you to create “votes” for important keywords surrounded by relevant text. Try www.prlog.org and www.webwire.com .

If you donate to local charities, schools, colleges and churches ask for them to create a sponsors page and add a short note about your support with a link back to your website.  Links from these websites can be very valuable to establish credibility.

Free Linking Exists

Other opportunities like Yahoo Answers, Merchant Circle Blogs, Fast Company and SlideShare are just a few of the dozens of free sites that can provide a good back link that will raise your relevance for the keywords you are targeting.  Try to build links from blog articles that are about automotive topics.

You can also look for blog posts that you can reply to that allow links to be followed.  Firefox has a nice plug-in that will show you which website forms have a “no-follow” tag and those that do not.  Reply boxes that have a no-follow tag will not build back links.

In the end, link building is very important but it takes time and experience to know how to build the most effective links. Car dealers often do not have the time or expertise to build a consistent monthly link building campaign.

In the ideal situation, link building and other Internet Marketing tasks should be a shared responsibility between car dealer and outside consultant.  Techniques and strategies are constantly changing and someone who builds links all day is normally finding new sites every week which can be an advantage over your competitors.

If you have questions, drop me a line or an email.

Brian Pasch, CEO

The 9th Digital Dealer Conference will be in Las Vegas from October 12-14th.  You can register online and sign-up early to save money on registration fees.  You can visit the Digital Dealer Conference website at: http://www.digitaldealerconference.com/

The 8th Digital Dealer Conference was held in April of 2010 and it was our mnost successful show as a speaker and vendor. The exhibit hall was packed with eager car dealers looking for a competitive edge in their digital marketing strategies.  According to the conference website:

The 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition will be held at The Mirage, October 12-14, 2010. The last conference in Orlando in April drew 559 dealership attendees from 46 states and featured more than 70 companies as exhibitors and sponsors in over 60 booth spaces. Combined, the last two Digital Dealer Conferences drew over 1,100 registered dealers, GMs, GSMs, Internet Sales Managers, e-Commerce Directors, BDC/CRM Managers, Pre-Owned Magagers, Service Managers and F&I Managers – every one of them there to learn more about Internet and technology-related issues from speakers and exhibitors.

We expect as many as 90 exhibitors and sponsors and over 1,200 attendees in Las Vegas this fall, with more than 600 attendees coming from dealerships around the country. We’ve done eight of these and continue to work our formula for attendee success.

Digital Dealer Conference in Las Vegas

I look forward to seeing everyone in Las Vegas and I hope to be invited back to speak on my passion:  Automotive SEO, Digital Marketing and Automotive Advertising strategies.

In the meantime, please follow me on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/automotiveseo  and you can also get updated on our PCG Digital Marketing Facebook page.   Between shows I will be posting Internet Marketing tips that can help you bet your competitors to the punch.